“Stop, Nina. It’s not your fault,” Jared said.
“I don’t suppose we can tel Beth?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
Jared only offered an apologetic expression.
We pul ed into a gas station for the second time. Anyone else would have thought twice about stopping at such a nefarious-looking place in the wee hours of the morning. Bars guarded the windows, and several unscrupulous characters loitered next to the front door. Jared, however, stepped out and walked past them as if he were at the mal .
I waited in the truck hoping none of the people staring back at me would become curious enough to wander over. Jared was only inside for a moment, and then he emerged, holding a bottle of water and something deep-fried and stuffed with cheese and chicken.
He frowned as he handed them over. “It’s not the healthiest thing, but I thought it would tide you over until we could find a decent restaurant.”
I took a bite. It was disgustingly wonderful.
Just as Jared pul ed back onto the highway, my cel phone buzzed. The display lit up, and I instantly tensed. “It’s Beth,” I said.
Jared sighed. “You have to let it ring.”
“She is probably sick with worry. I can’t just let her think I’m dead.”
Jared took the phone from my hand. “I sympathize, I real y do. Beth doesn’t deserve that, but we don’t have a choice.”
I shook my head and looked out the window. Jared was right: Beth didn’t deserve a friend like me. She had only been patient, honest, kind, loyal, and protective. I couldn’t imagine the despair I would feel if I answered a cal that Beth’s car had exploded with a charred body inside. My heart ached for her, and if I wasn’t riddled with guilt before, now I was so ashamed I could barely stand to be in my skin. Tears wel ed up in my eyes and fel down my cheeks. If Beth ever found out that I knowingly all owed her to suffer over my death, she would never forgive me—and I would never expect it from her.
The phone stopped ringing, and the voicemail chimed, letting me know she’d left a message. I held out my hand to Jared, but he shook his head.
“Do you real y want to hear the worry in her voice? You feel bad enough.”
I covered my face with my hand and shook my head. “This is awful, Jared. This is so wrong.”
Jared leaned over and kissed my temple. “I’m so sorry, Nina. I’m so, so sorry.”
I looked over at him and could see he was just as upset as I. If he could find another way he would, but once someone knew about our life there was no going back. I didn’t want that for Beth, either.
We continued south, and by daybreak reached Maryland. The morning sun glistened on a sign that read Eden Pop.793. Trees lined the median on one side of the road; railroad tracks on the other. Other than a few bil boards and a patch of land used for tractor sales, I couldn’t see much of Eden.
“That’s an interesting name,” I said.
“It fits, too,” Jared said straight-faced. “The town is just as hard to find as the garden.”
“Ha, ha,” I teased, unimpressed with his joke. “So do we have an actual destination?”
Jared smiled. “We do, now. When I saw we were on Ocean Highway, I thought of the perfect place.”
“Which is….?” I trailed off.
“Virginia Beach.”
I smiled. “I’ve never been there.”
He met my eyes, matching my expression. “I thought it would be a relaxing place for you to wait while the investigators figure out what happened, and then when they contact us—and they wil —we wil return in a few days, upset and flustered.”
I frowned. Jared’s plan wouldn’t work. If anything, once the Providence PD fol owed the breadcrumbs we left for them, we would look more suspicious. Jared’s loft had already been declared an act of arson, and they had assumed it was him. Unable to prove anything, no charges were filed. But now that my car had also been targeted, he would be under investigation again. If they found out we were there at the time of the explosion, they could charge and hold us for a number of things. With every thought, my concerns compounded.
“It’s not the first time I’ve had to explain myself to the police. I promise there is no need to worry. We’ll explain our version and leave for Jerusalem as planned. If I can kill a dozen or so dirty cops in one night and keep our names out of it….”
“But her family. Don’t you think the police stopped looking back then because they dug deep enough to see what was going on? Sasha’s family wil want answers.”
“Ryan and Claire wil take care of it. The family wil have answers. They’l just have ones that don’t imply either of us. You have a bodyguard that everyone knows about, Nina. Now everyone wil know why. You’re a target, and Sasha was col ateral damage. It’s not far from the truth, actual y. The only difference is that we won’t have to explain why we fled the scene.”
Jared took my hand and kissed my fingers, and then pressed my knuckles into his chest. “I’m sorry about Sasha. She didn’t deserve to die, but you can’t blame yourself for her death. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine.”
I stiffened. “How can you say that? You couldn’t have known—”
“I should have known. That very easily could have been you.” He frowned at the thought. “I’m glad it was her and not you. I know you’re wal owing in guilt about what her family wil feel when they get the cal , but I want you to think about the moment that car exploded. If it wasn’t her? Honey, I would have watched my wife and child’s death in the same moment. You can’t wish that for me.” He released my hand and wiped his eyes with his thumb and index finger, and then sighed. “I’m just glad it wasn’t you.”
I wanted to tel him that it shouldn’t have happened at all , but I was afraid it would only make him feel worse. “First the loft, now the car,” I sighed.
“We won’t have anything before long.”
“We need to take out whoever the hel knows anything about explosives, that’s for sure.” He laughed once, sounding exhausted. “This being so in tune with you and Bean that I’m missing important things like a bomb on your car is also a negative.” He shook his head. “It was ignition-based, so it couldn’t have been there before you left for Titan. It had to been set up between the time you got there and when it blew. Bex would have sensed it.
The only time they would have had a window is after I arrived.”
“How is that possible? You were in the Escalade a few feet away.”
“Exactly,” he said, his expression unsettled. “It was difficult to focus before….”
“Before what?” I asked, knowing better. Jared had become skil ed at leaving me out of the loop. It wasn’t like him to slip.
He replied with only a sigh, but he was visibly upset. It was then that I made a decision. I no longer wanted to be in the dark. I was a mother now.
With so many important things at stake, it was time I took an active role in the effort to save our lives.
“Tel me,” I said.
“After we…I’ve been more in-tuned to you for a while. I had just become used to wading through the mess to get to the basics of what I used to feel when you…when we….”
“This would be a good time to forget your usual hour-long explanation and just get down to the naked truth.”